Global health security - a call for Taiwan's inclusion

In the 17 years since it was hit hard by the global outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome or SARS, Taiwan has been in a state of constant readiness to the threat of emerging infectious disease.

As of April 9, Taiwan ranked 123rd among 183 countries in terms of confirmed cases per million people. This has shown that Taiwan's aggressive efforts to control the epidemic are working.

Disease knows no borders. In response to the threat of the COVID-19 epidemic, Taiwan has implemented dynamic plans concerning border quarantine measures, including onboard quarantine, fever screening, health declarations and a 14-day home quarantine for passengers arriving from nations it has listed under a Level 3 Warning.

Moreover, Taiwan has established an electronic system for entry quarantine, which allows passengers with a local mobile phone number to fill in health information via mobile phone. A health declaration pass will then be sent to them via a text message. This is connected to the community care support management system, which allows government agencies to provide care services and medical assistance.

For those undergoing home quarantine or isolation, the government is working with telecom operators to allow GPS tracking of their locations. Quarantine offenders are subject to fines or mandatory placement according to relevant laws and regulations, so as to prevent transmission.

Taiwan has also increased laboratory testing capacity, expanded the scope of its surveillance and inspections based on trends of the COVID-19 epidemic and retested people with higher risk who had already tested negative, including patients with symptoms of severe influenza, community cases with upper respiratory tract infections who were already being monitored and cluster cases of upper respiratory tract infections, to identify suspected cases and perform treatment in isolation wards.

Meanwhile, Taiwan has designated 50 regional hospitals and medical centers and 167 community hospitals and clinics to create a tiered system for testing. These hospitals and clinics are required to set up special wards or areas; in principle, COVID-19 patients are isolated and treated individually in these wards and areas to prevent nosocomial infections.

A crisis anywhere readily becomes a problem everywhere. Global health security requires the efforts of every person to ensure an optimal response to public health threats and challenges. Taiwan, though not a member of WHO, cannot stand alone and must be included in the fight against such threats and challenges.

Taiwan has fulfilled its responsibilities as a global citizen and abided by the International Health Regulations 2005 in notifying WHO of confirmed COVID-19 cases. Moreover, Taiwan has communicated with other countries such as Japan, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, the United States, Canada, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, to share information on confirmed cases, travel and contact histories of patients and border control measures.

Taiwan has worked with global partners to respond to the threat of COVID-19 to ensure that global health is not imperiled by a lack of communication and transparency. If it is indeed WHO's mission to ensure the highest attainable standard of health for every human being, then WHO needs Taiwan just as Taiwan needs WHO.

Yet, Taiwan has long been excluded from WHO due to political considerations. This has been regrettable, given all that Taiwan could share with the world thanks to its renowned public health experience, health system, NHI and ability to perform rapid testing as well as research and manufacture vaccines and drugs against COVID-19.

We can also share our methods for analyzing the virus. We hope that after this pandemic abates, WHO will truly understand that infectious diseases know no borders and that no country should be excluded, lest it become a major gap in global health security.

Taiwan will continue to work with the rest of the world to ensure that all enjoy the fundamental human right to health as stipulated in the WHO Constitution. Echoing the mantra of the United Nations' 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, no one should be left behind.

• Dr. Chen Shih-chung is minister of health and welfare for the Republic of China (Taiwan).